Writing Magazine

Welcome to the first Writing Magazine of 2024! The beginning of a New Year is the ideal time to set plans for the months ahead and take stock of where you’d like to go with your writing in the coming year, so this month we’re encouraging you to Dream

In the last issue, we finally came face to face with the Building Blocks of Creative Writing. They stand before us. There are large blocks and there are small blocks. There are blocks of different colours and shades. They sit there. Disordered. We ca

My second-grade teacher, Ms. Axelrod, hosted a writers’ workshop every Friday afternoon. Each week, we would write, edit, and ‘publish’ new stories. I had always loved reading and telling stories, but the publication part was new and alluring. I stil

Here’s a colourful one. ‘I just want to be a housewife.’ Those are not the words I’m often heard to say but, very occasionally, that’s just what I shout. It’s not that I really want to stop writing. It’s because I am trying to deal with too many proj

To say that the inspiration for my third whodunit, Murder on Lake Garda, came unexpectedly wouldn’t quite be doing it justice. When I first happened on the seed of an idea, I was actually well into working on a completely different novel, involving a

I really enjoyed the article ‘Get Building’ by Ian Ayris (WM Dec). I loved the analogy Ian used and it got me reflecting upon my own writing. It seems I have built a whole housing estate: a couple of apartment blocks, filled with poetry, a couple of

We weren’t a bit surprised that we had our smallest postbag yet for the call for submissions on the theme of Unreliable Narrator, inspired by the brilliant article by Taboo co-creator Chips Hardy in the December issue. It’s a challenging theme – it’s

To feature in Subscribers’ News contact: tjackson@warnersgroup.co.uk I have been writing poetry for many years, publishing them on my blog Everyday Poetry, writes subscriber Chris Auger. Quite a few of them have been prompted by challenges set by Wr

Rachel Hore used to teach creative writing part-time at the University of East Anglia, but stood down in 2020 in order to concentrate fully on writing. ‘Being in charge of my own time means it’s vital to construct a writing routine,’ she says. ‘My hu

Before we’re both hurt, let’s walk away, before we’re hurt by what we might say, let’s steel ourselves for home truths that may prove difficult to hear, and pray to help us find a better way… before we’re both hurt, let’s walk away. Before we’re both

Readers of fiction in general tend to love stories that feature partnerships. Morse and Lewis, Pooh and Piglet, Mikael Blomkvist and Lisbeth Salander, Jane Eyre and Edward Rochester, Mole and Ratty – the list goes on and on. How does a novelist go ab

When I was nine years old, my teacher Mr Winstanley announced to the class that, one day, I would be a writer. He asked me to send him a copy of my first book. He planted a tiny seed that grew from that moment, and that’s when my journey began. Last

We talk plenty about genre in these pages, and there are of course many accepted genre terms we use a lot – horror, scifi and fantasy are pretty well defined on the whole. After that we come to our subgenres, our steampunk, cyberpunks, body horror, f

If you have a query for Lisa, please send it by email to lisacuttsenquiries@ gmail.com Sharon Summervale A Firstly, when the police are called to his sudden death, the officers will check for any signs of a break-in, a struggle or anything that mig

Juliet Pickering’s literary career began at Waterstones before she joined the AP Watt Literary Agency in 2003. Ten years later, she moved to Blake Friedmann, and became vice head of the Book Department in 2017, and later a director in 2020. She repre

By Gary Dalkin ‘I spent nine months in solitary confinement with very little access to anything. Being claustrophobic, solitary was a horrific experience. After five months my family could bring me books. When the guard opened the door and handed ov

If you’ve been preparing your manuscript for the trade arena, you might feel that the new year is the perfect time to submit. Before taking the plunge, or just dipping your toe in the water, here are a few pointers that can help avoid pitfalls out th

A print magazine published twice a year, The Bennington Review aims to provide ‘a distinctive space for innovative, intelligent and moving fiction, creative non fiction, poetry, film writing and cross genre work’ especially if it is ‘graceful and rec

The new writing contest is for poetry and short fiction aimed at children between five and twelve. The competition from Tim Saunders Publications invites entries of unpublished poetry in any style (max 30 lines), flash fiction (max 300 words) and sho

Women of all kinds are invited to submit to The Belladonna, a comedy/ satire site which ‘loves’ lists, longer satirical pieces and essays, animations, cartoons, illustrations and open letters, writes Jenny Roche. Submissions should be 550-800 words.

The London Spy describes itself as ‘a quality news mag for Londoners, by email’, offering ‘the city’s hottest intel – news, investigations and weird stuff,’ writes Gary Dalkin. The London Spy also exists as a website at www.thelondonspy.co.uk. Recen

Critical Blast Critical Blast is published by a group ‘dedicated to delivering news, reviews, opinions and interviews from the field of entertainment and pop culture.’ Publisher Howard Price is publishing an anthology, deadline 31 January, the third

OD Ekpeki Presents is accepting submissions of fiction, poetry, essays, articles and reviews for a speculative fiction anthology, The Passage to Caribbean Pantheolog y, writes Gary Dalkin. Submissions will be considered by Caribbean people or anyone

Orbit Works is the new digital publishing imprint of Orbit, a science fiction and fantasy publisher. Orbit Works is currently open to submissions from both agented and un-agented authors. No AI submissions. Submit completed, well edited, original wor

Winning scripts will get a professional performance at the Jack Studio Theatre, London, and be filmed and considered for publication. The competition, which has been on hiatus following the death of a company director, is once more open for entries.

Fiction and non-fiction books are invited by Sports Stories Press, which aims to ‘create and share more stories by, for and about amateur athletes of any level and ability particularly sportswomen, whilst using ‘equitable and inclusive representation

Headed by editor-in-chief Mark J. Mirsky, the editorial team at FICTION want to find the best fiction and ‘bring the experimental to a broader audience,’ as well as ‘to bring new voices to the forefront.’ They like the unconventional: literary and ex

TRAVEL WRITING KNOW-HOW Travel is a delight, well getting there is, and exploring new places or returning to enjoy past delights again is a prime motivation for it. But there are hazards along the way, and certain aspects of travel do seem to encoura

Moonstruck Books is a new independent press founded by JP Painter and FZ Boda that publishes ‘otherworldly, haunting fiction’, writes Gary Dalkin. The company is based in Portland, Oregon, with their first title, The Rain Artist by Claire Rudy Foste

When I became an agent twelve or so years ago, one of the big debates in the industry was around Google Books, a fake innocent play by Google to digitize all out-ofprint books. They were a bit like a neighbour you find rooting around in your garden s

Poems on the theme of exploration converged in search of a prize in the competition honouring Venetian explorer Marco Polo. The traveller – who opened up the world of central Asia, explored the Silk Road, and lived a quarter of his life in China – re

Prizes: £100 and £50 Entry fee: £7.50/£6 subscribers Closing date: 15 March See p76 for details Nearly two hundred years ago Samuel Taylor Coleridge wrote that poetry was made up of the best words in the best order. Times and styles may have changed,

A New World “Hey Jack,” calls his dad. “Have you got all your things? Our Wildsmith adventure’s about to begin!” He trudges downstairs, at the speed of a hearse. A week with his folks – could it get any worse? “You! Pick up the pace boy, or you’ll g

Ada waits until they’ve all gone – to school, to work if they’re lucky, to fritter away their pensions in the betting shop or sit in the sad little café on the main road, nursing cups of tea and remembering. Better to wait out of sight. Not everyone